Poetry Terms

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Poetry Terms
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General Vocabulary
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Prose Writing organized into sentences and
paragraphs that is not poetry.e.g. Novels and
short stories are examples of prose.
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Genre A term used to describe a particular
category or type of literature. Some literary
genres are mysteries, westerns, and romances.
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VoiceThe authorial presence in a piece of
literature whether in the first, second, or third
person.
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StanzaA major subdivision in a poem. A stanza
of two lines is called a couplet a stanza of
three lines is called a tercet a stanza of four
lines is called a quatrain.
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Quatrain A four-line stanza.
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Refrain

• A line that is repeated in a poem

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Meter The pattern of stressed and unstressed
syllables in the lines of a poem.
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CoupletsA pair of rhyming lines in a poem
often set off from the rest of the poem.
Shakespeares sonnets all end in couplets.
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Sestet

• 6 line stanza

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Tercet

• 3 line stanza

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Rhyme Scheme

• The structure, pattern, and form of rhyming in a
  poem
• For example
• I love the trees A
• They sway in the breeze A
• I like bushes too B
• And I love you B

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Iambic pentameterTen-syllable lines in which
every other syllable is stressed. - e.g.
With eyes like stars upon the brave night air.
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Poetic Forms
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Villanelle

• Nineteen Line
• Five stanzas, each of three lines, with final
  stanza being four lines
• First line of stanza is repeated in last line of
  second and fourth stanzas
• Third line of first stanza is repeated as last
  line of third and fifth stanzas
• These two refrains lines follow each other to
  become the second-to-last lines of the poem
• The rhyme scheme is aba. The rhymes are repeated
  according to the refrains

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Sestina

• 39 lines
• First stanza is a sestet (6 lines)
• Lines of any length
• The six words that end each of the lines of the
  first stanza are repeated in a different order at
  the end of lines in each of the subsequent five
  stanzas.
• The repeated words are unrhymed

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Sestina Repetition Pattern

• 1 2 3 4 5 6 - End words of lines in first sestet.
  
• 6 1 5 2 4 3 - End words of lines in second
  sestet.
• 3 6 4 1 2 5 - End words of lines in third sestet.
  
• 5 3 2 6 1 4 - End words of lines in fourth
  sestet.
• 4 5 1 3 6 2 - End words of lines in fifth sestet
• 2 4 6 5 3 1 - End words of lines in sixth sestet.

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Sestina Continued

• The first line of each sestet after the first
  ends with the same word as the one that ended the
  last line of the sestet before it.
• In the closing tercet, (3 lines) each of the six
  words are used, with one in the middle of each
  line and one at the end.

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Blank verseUnrhymed lines of poetry usually
in iambic pentameter. Plenty of modern poetry is
written in blank verse.
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SonnetA fourteen-line poem written in iambic
pentameter. Different kinds of sonnets have
different rhyme schemes. The most notable are
Shakespeares Sonnets which employ the
abab,cdcd,efef,gg rhyme scheme.
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Narrative

• Poem that tells a story
• For example
• Edgar Allen Poes The Raven.

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Ballad

• Poems inspired by melody
• ABAB pattern or rhyme
• Syllabic rhythm
• In Scarlet Town, where I was born, There was a
  fair maid dwellin' Made every lad cry
  wellaway, And her name was Barbara Ellen.

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ElegyA poem mourning the dead.
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LyricA type of poetry that expresses the
poets emotions. It often tells some sort of
brief story, engaging the reader in the
experience.
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Free VersePoetry with no set meter (rhythm)
or rhyme scheme.
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Pastoral

• Poems inspired by nature
• Specifically, pastures

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Poetry Lit Devices
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AlliterationThe repetition of consonant sounds
in lit Peter Piper Picked a Peck of Pickled
Peppers.
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AssonanceThe repetition of vowel sounds as in
And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the
sideOf my darling, my darling, my life and my
bride. --Edgar Allan Poe, Annabel Lee
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Diction

• 1)Word choice.
• 2) The authors choice of words.

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Denotation

• The dictionary definition of the word.
• e.g. The word indolence denotes laziness.

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Connotation

• Implied meaning of a word
• e.g. The word cool connotes
• an awesome or exciting thing.

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End rhymeRhyming words that are at the ends of
their respective lineswhat we typically think of
as normal rhyme.
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Internal rhymeA rhyme that occurs within one
line such as Hes King of the Swing.
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Slant Rhyme

• A case where the rhyme is not a direct rhyme, but
  is close enough to be recognized as rhyme
• trust/cusp
• Lisp/list

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Onomatopoeia The use of words that sound like
what they mean such as buzz, bang, or
tic-tock.
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PunThe use of a word in a way that plays on
two or more different meanings. I wondered why
the baseball was getting bigger. Then it hit me.
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TPCASTT

• What is it?
• Why do we use it?

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WHAT IS TPCASTT???

• A no nonsense way of analyzing poetry.
• It takes you RIGHT THROUGH the process on how to
  BEST understand how to analyze a poem.

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Steps in TPCASTT

• Title - The meaning of the title without
  reference to the poem
• Paraphrase - Put the poem, line by line, in your
  own words. DO NOT READ INTO THE POEM. Only read
  on surface level.
• Connotation - looking for deeper meaning
  (literary devices)

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TPCASTT steps continued

• Attitude - Looking for the authors tone. How is
  the writer speaking?
• Shifts - Looking for shifts in tone, action, and
  rhythm. Dont just write the number. Discuss
  how the shift(s) affects the poem.
• Title - reevaluate the title as it pertains to
  the poem
• Theme - What does the poem mean? What is it
  saying? How does it relate to life?